FP MCCANN BRICK SLIP FACED ‘L’ WALLS UTILISED ON BOUNDARY WALL RE-BUILD PROJECT

Project: New Retaining Wall to Car Park Boundary – Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent,  Staffordshire

Client: Cygnet Health Care

Civils and Groundworks: Nottingham Grounds Maintenance Ltd

Product Supplied:  Precast Concrete ‘L’ Walls. Heights -1.5metres; 1.75metres; 2.0metres. ‘Peru Red’ Brick Slip Application

FP McCann has supplied its brick slip faced ‘L’ Wall earth retaining system used to replace a length of Victorian brick wall. The boundary wall to a car park operated by Stoke-on-Trent based Cygnet Healthcare was in need of major repair. Rather than the costly and time-consuming replacement using reclaimed bricks and following a review of other in-situ wall options, FP McCann’s precast concrete brick slip faced ‘L’ Walls were chosen for the build.

The nineteen ‘L’ Walls supplied in heights 1.5m, 1.75m and 2.0m have been installed by Nottingham Grounds Maintenance Ltd. To reduce the number of vertical joints in the 28 metres length of wall, some 2.0 metre wide ‘L’ Walls together with the standard 1.5 metres wide units were set down on a concrete foundation base. With changes in elevation across the site, the project involved significant earthworks to achieve backed-up levels to the wall itself. The offsite manufactured precast concrete walling solution acts as a soil retention barrier and once fixed into position on a concrete foundation slab, earth is backed up against the ‘L Walls’ as part of the raised ground levelling work.
To complement a section of the existing Victorian brick wall, a Wienerberger ‘Peru Red’ facing brick slip was applied to the wall units at the factory as part of the manufacturing process. The addition of brick slips to the precast units offers an aesthetically pleasing and natural looking finish to an otherwise plain concrete wall.
This method of walling is a simple, fast process and eliminates the need for shuttering, steel foundation formwork and the use of a finishing mortar, as the colour matched brick joint mortar is applied at the factory. An additional benefit of the ‘L’ Wall system is that no propping is required during construction. The ‘L’ Walls supplied from FP McCann’s Lydney factory in Gloucestershire were installed in just two days.

Commenting on the FP McCann earth retaining ‘L’ Walls in place, Damian Morley Managing Director of Nottingham Grounds Maintenance says, “The precast concrete ‘L’ Wall units are a simple, durable and cost-efficient means of creating an earth retaining wall, allowing us to then work confidently with the elevation change on site. Additionally in the case of this project, the facing of the ‘L’ Wall units with the attractive brick slips complements the existing Victorian wall . The construction of a brick wall would have been both very costly and time consuming. We will certainly consider the use of the precast concrete ‘L’ Walls with such an aesthetic finish on future ground works projects.”

FP McCann’s brick slip ‘L’ Walls are available in heights 1.0m to 3.5 m and in lengths 1.0m to 4.0m (height dependant). Standard precast concrete ‘L’ Wall units are available in heights from 4.0m to 6.0m from Byley and units measuring 1.0m to 3.75m from FP McCann’s Lydney and Grantham depots.
The range of brick slip colours is available on request.